Play.com to halt retail sales, will become eBay-style trading site following tax loophole closure

Play.com will cease retail trading following the closure of a Jersey tax loophole that has seen the site axe many jobs across all territories, and will instead moved into the trading territory currently dominated by eBay.

MCV reports that the site, which sold a wide offering of game content, will cease retail trading in March 2013, and will relaunch as a trading site. It will operate on a similar basis as eBay and Amazon – in which the site lets members sell their own items or trade independently – while it takes a cut of the profits.

The MCV report adds that December 2011 saw the Government close a tax loophole in Jersey, which allowed retail sites like Play.com to skirt around VAT payments on any goods sold at £15 or less. The change in policy led the site to axe 147 jobs at its Jersey base, and 67 across its Bristol and Cambridge offices.

Finally, the report notes that since Play.com was sold to Japanese company Rakuten for just £25m in September 2011, it has suffered dipping financial returns ever since.